Mission Hospital Opens New Cardiac Care Center
By VITA REED
Mission Hospital Medical Center has completed a new $13 million cardiac care center that is set to start taking patients this week.
The Edward and Ann Muldoon Cardiac Center spans 35,000 square feet on the fourth floor of the Mission Viejo hospital’s tower.
Mission expects to handle more than 1,500 extra cardiac patients per year, said Michelle Woodley, the hospital’s executive director of cardiovascular services. Mission has been performing around 300 heart surgeries a year, Woodley estimated.
Funding for the new cardiac center came from a mix of operating funds and more than 2,000 donations, including a $4 million gift from the Muldoons. Edward Muldoon is chief executive of Bivar Inc., an Irvine-based electronics maker.
Features include an intensive care unit with 27 rooms, a cardiac telemetry monitoring unit with 34 beds, a satellite pharmacy and a heart resource library. The center meets state seismic standards, Woodley said.
NBBJ, a Marina del Rey architectural firm, designed the center. The Irvine office of Turner Construction was the general contractor.
“When the tower was built about nine years ago, the fourth floor was left a shell,” Woodley said about the cardiac center’s location. There is “a little bit of room” for expansion, she said.
Approximately 22 critical-care nursing jobs have been created by the expansion, Woodley said, and about half have been filled.
Mission Hospital is one of three Orange County facilities owned by St. Joseph Health System, a not-for-profit healthcare provider based in Orange. The others are St. Joseph Hospital-Orange and St. Jude Medical Center in Fullerton.
